Page 268 of Vegas Heat

Me:About as well as you’d expect.

Justin:I’m coming over.

I glance around the quiet house. I can’t go out drinking, but I don’t want to stay here, either. Maybe the solution lies somewhere in the middle.

Me:No, don’t leave your friends. I need to get out of the house, so I’ll come there.

Justin:Are you sure?

Me:Give me an hour.

When I get to the bar, I spot the table right away. Dylan isn’t here, which means he’s probably with Mia, and that’s fine. That’s good. I don’t have to put on a happy face for him.

Everyone else is here, though, and they’re all drunk already.

Which is good. It’s fine. I sort of wanted to talk to Justin about what went down tonight, but he’s not in the right frame of mind for that.

Tomorrow’s another day.

“Let’s get this girl fucked up!” Justin yells when I slide into the booth beside him.

I force away the heat building once again behind my eyes.

I can’t get fucked up, but he calls the waitress over. It’s loud enough in here that I lean in close to her so nobody else will hear my order. “Just a Sprite with a lime, please.”

I’d love some vodka in that Sprite. I’d love to get drunk with my friends. I’m only twenty-one, right?

My dad would say I should be enjoying life, making trouble, getting drunk.

Cooper would probably agree. I’m too young to be tied down, too young to be making decisions about my future and getting married and having kids.

But I am. It’s all I want. I don’t want to be here with the other interns pretending that I’m just like them because I’m not.

I wonder if he’s punishing himself right now. I wonder where he’s at and what he’s thinking.

I wonder if I’ll ever be in a position where he’ll share those things with me again…or if tonight really was the end.

CHAPTER 5: COOPER

I stare out the window silently as the team bus carries us toward Phoenix.

It’s raining, a rare occurrence for both Vegas and Phoenix, but the skies seem sad today as a light drizzle follows us down the highway.

It’s not doing my mood any favors, that’s for sure.

I try to muster up the enthusiasm I’ve felt in years past as the team bus carried us toward our final destination for the month of preseason games, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere within myself to feel even a tiny ounce of joy.

Instead, I keep my gaze focused out the window as I force myself to believe I’m doing the right thing no matter how wrong it feels.

But as much as I try to justify it, I’m having a hard time believing it myself.

Rush Ross asked if I wanted to stay in the same house with him and Danny, and I agreed. Now I’m wishing I would’ve just gotten my own place.

This will be good. It’s a private residence we’re splitting six ways—between myself, Danny, Rush, Duke, AJ, and Nick—while we’re here, and it’ll be the party house. It’ll give me something to do when I’m not playing so I don’t have a chance to dwell on everything I just lost.

I continue to keep my gaze out the window even when I feel someone slide into the seat beside me.

“You ever seen rain before?” Danny asks.

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